Petri dishes are small circular boxes typically made of transparent plastic material, containing a nutrient such as a mixture of gelose and distilled water. They are used as a development medium for cultures containing microorganisms and are used in large numbers in analysis laboratories, in particular in medical research and in industry.
Manually operated turntables for petri dishes are known. Such turntables include a base and an upper plate rotatably mounted on the base. The upper plate is configured with a rim extending around the perimeter of the upper plate, and is generally configured to match the bottom surface of a petri dish, to hold a petri dish in place. To inoculate a petri dish with bacteria or other microorganism, the user must manually rotate the upper plate with one hand, while handling filling equipment with the other—often times a cumbersome and awkward process.
As discussed above, prior art turntables feature an upwardly extending lip that holds the petri dish in place. This lip, however, inhibits removal of the petri dish from the turn table since the lip extends almost to the upper edge of the petri dish. This configuration often forces lab workers to contact the inner surfaces of the petri dish to extract it from the turntable which creates the risk of contamination.
In light of the foregoing, a need exists in the art for turntables for petri dishes, or other apparatuses, that address the above-noted problems.